Search Articles
(CN) — California Governor Gavin Newsom has sued Fox News, accusing the conservative media giant of defaming him in its coverage of a supposed phone call with President Donald Trump amid protests against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Los Angeles.
In particular, Newsom’s suit targets Fox News personalities John Roberts and Jesse Watters. He claims the two hosts were covering for Trump when they falsely asserted that the Democratic governor had lied about the call.
“Fox advanced this lie about Governor Newsom out of a desire to harm him politically” due to his “progressive values” and vocal opposition to “the radical Fox News agenda,” Newsom wrote in his complaint, filed Friday in Delaware Superior Court.
On June 6, protests broke out in Los Angeles after multiple large-scale ICE raids occurred in the region, resulting in 44 immigration arrests and one obstruction arrest: that of California Service Employees International Union president David Huerta.
Later that night — early June 7 on the East Coast — Newsom and Trump spoke on the phone for approximately 16 minutes, according to Newsom. Trump did not speak about the protests in Los Angeles, Newsom said.
Three days later, on June 9, Trump announced his intentions to deploy the National Guard and other federal troops to Los Angeles in response to the city’s ongoing protests.
During White House press briefing on June 10, Trump was asked when he had last spoken with Newsom.
“A day ago," Trump replied. “Called him to tell him, got to do a better job. He’s doing a bad job, causing a lot of death and a lot of potential death.”
Within the hour, Newsom responded to Trump’s statement on social media.
In a post, Newsom refuting Trump’s assertion that they had talked the day prior, on June 9.
“There was no call. Not even a voicemail," Newsom wrote. “Americans should be alarmed that a president deploying Marines onto our streets doesn’t even know who he’s talking to.”
In other words: Newsom says that even though the call log did not contradict his claims, Fox News used it to call him a liar. He argues that Fox’s reporting of the call’s timing, rather than a minor slip-up, presented an inaccurate and defamatory picture of what happened prior to what he calls the “unprecedented” mobilization of the National Guard and other federal troops to California without the his approval.
In response, Trump provided Fox News host John Roberts a screenshot of Trump’s call log, showing the 16-minute call on June 6 and 7. Roberts on June 10 relayed evidence of the call on social media.
That afternoon, during a Fox News broadcast, Roberts slightly rephrased Trump’s statement at the press briefing. He said Trump had claimed he’d called Newsom “yesterday or the other day.”
“It is impossible to know for certain whether President Trump’s distortion was intentionally deceptive or merely a result of his poor cognitive state,” Newsom wrote in his complaint. Nonetheless, “Fox’s decision to cover up for the president’s false statement cannot be so easily dismissed.”
In an emailed statement to Courthouse News, a Fox News spokesperson stressed that in his segment, Roberts had accurately referenced to the true timing of the call.
“Friday night would have been June 6th, I guess, in Los Angeles,” Roberts had said. “So, governor, over to you for the response.”
Nonetheless, later that evening, Fox News host Jesse Watters offered further reporting on the matter that Newsom claims further muddied the waters.
Later that evening, Fox News host Jesse Watters offered further reporting on the matter.
Watters’ report further exacerbated the network’s falsehoods regarding the call, Newsom argues. Over a chyron reading “GAVIN LIED ABOUT TRUMP’S CALL," Watters played an edited clip of Trump’s statement. That edited clip left out Trump’s June 10 claim that a call happened “a day ago.”
“Newsom responded, and he said there wasn’t even a phone call. He said Trump never called him,” Watters opined after the clip. “Not even a voicemail, he said. But John Roberts got Trump’s call logs, and it shows Trump called him late Friday night and they talked for 16 minutes. Why would Newsom lie and claim Trump never called him? Why would he do that?”
Characterizing Roberts’ and Watters’ coverage of his statements as defamatory, Newsom stressed in his complaint that given the circumstances, accurate reporting was especially critical.
“Every hour, every Truth Social post, and every presidential utterance mattered,” Newsom wrote. “History was happening in real time.”
“It is the exact reason why reporters asked President Trump when he had last spoken to Governor Newsom,” the governor added. “In response, he lied. And when his own ‘receipts’ showed that, Fox, true to form, carried his water and sought to cover up his lies by defaming Governor Newsom.”
Newsom’s requested damages — $787 million — mirrors Fox’s $787 million 2023 settlement with Dominion Voting Systems, which the news giant made to avoid a defamation trial. Dominion had sued Fox after the media conglomerate falsely accused Dominion of committing widespread voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election.
Additionally, Newsom requested that the court enjoin Fox News from continuing to post or broadcast Roberts’ and Watters’ statements regarding his phone call with Trump.
A Fox News spokesperson denied the legitimacy of Newsom’s claims.
“Newsom’s transparent publicity stunt is frivolous and designed to chill free speech critical of him,” the spokesperson told Courthouse News in a written statement. “We will defend this case vigorously and look forward to it being dismissed.”
Follow @JacksonHealsSubscribe to our free newsletters
Our weekly newsletter Closing Arguments offers the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world, while the monthly Under the Lights dishes the legal dirt from Hollywood, sports, Big Tech and the arts.